Globalisation affects creativity!

Science is universal in nature where as art has roots in and dependent on the culture it originates from for its evolution. So art was varied from place to place and culture to culture earlier. But globalization is changing all this variation in art and making it look like a stunted pigmy these days.

Everywhere in the World I see the same kind of creative works these days! I wondered several times why this thing is happening. Because everybody wants to sell their works & become famous. So they follow famous creative people & their trends. They stop thinking about new trends. This kills innovation. Creativity suffers as a result. Don't agree? Here is the proof from science:

In his bookpredictably irrational, author Dan Ariely makes the case that globalization inhibits creativityand ultimately reduces innovation. His idea is that the concept of ‘onelarge market’ reduces the diversity of ideas and approaches to theproblems of today.

To make his point, he uses a passage fromThe Lost Worldby Michael Crichton in which the chaos-theory scientist character named Malcolm goes on a pessimistic rant against one of the offshoots ofglobalization – cyberspace. Malcolm’s point is that in a world whereeveryone is connected, creativity, innovation and ultimately, evolutionwill suffer.

The idea that the whole world is wired together is mass death. Every biologist knows that small groups in isolation evolve fastest. You put a thousand birds on a ocean island, and they’ll evolve very fast. You put ten thousand on a big continent, and their evolution slows down. Now, for our own species, evolution occurs mostly through our behavior. We innovate new behavior to adapt. And everyone on earth knows that innovation only occurs in small groups. Put three people on a committee and they may get something done. Ten people, and it gets harder. Thirty people, and nothing happens. Thirty million, it becomes impossible. That’s the effect of mass media–it keeps anything from happening. Mass media swamps diversity. It makes every place the same–Bangkok or Tokyo or London: there’s a McDonald’s on one corner, a Benetton on another, a Gap across the road. Regional differences vanish. All differences vanish. In a mass-media world, there’s less of everything except top ten books, records, movies and ideas. People worry about losing species diversity in the rain forest. But what about intellectual diversity–our most necessary resource? That’s disappearing faster than trees. But we haven’t figured that out, so now we’re planning to put five billion people together in cyberspace. And it’ll freeze the entire species. Everything will stop dead in it’s tracks. Everyone will think the same thing at the same time. Global uniformity…

Only a hand full of people have the courage to go against the tide. Only these people can innovate & become trend setters. Others are just trend followers. Majority of the people belong to this second group. In the Cyberspace you assume a global identity & your cultural identity is lost. The culture you are born into becomes secondary & its influence on your creativity gets affected. Cultural differences - which are very essential for creative evolution - get diminished. Doesn't "true creativity" suffer in these circumstances?

What do you think? Please let me know.

(Effects of globalization on creative evolution is the main topic here. Not creativity or benefits of cyber space.

And now proof from various parts of the globe:

Creative Evolution: A theory similar to that of biological evolution, which argues that human creativity changes gradually throughout time, as a result of a number of cultural processes. Culture is an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning Sorry, I don't see "evolution in creativity". Yes, there is evolution in marketing, evolution in finding new ways to show your art to the world, evolution in following trends created by some people, evolution in new media & technological usage. I want to see true creative evolution of art in all this. This happens only when artists from different parts of the world can find new trends based on true cultural basis in which they are embedded. Not by following a single global culture!

One of the most important things that enriches culture is variety of thoughts! Are you thinking your own thoughts? Or are you, like too many people these days, blindly and unconsciously seeing the world through the beliefs, convictions, and assertions of others?

You might not know this: In India - for that matter in several parts of the world - in which there was a rich cultural diversity earlier, most of the art forms are becoming extinct. Yes, earlier we had several types of folk music, puppetry, some sort musical story telling on stage - we call it "Burra Katha" & "Hari Katha", rural painting forms, regional painting art works on clothes - all these forms of art are disappearing! Why? Because nobody is encouraging them & nobody is following them because they don't have a market. New globalized market which wants to follow only certain trends doesn't encourage these things. As people who are creative in these art forms cannot earn their livelihood through these they are discarding them & following pop music or painting that the global market wants! And it is happening all over the world. Most of the art forms that belong to different cultures are becoming extinct & this is a fact! I have seen with my own eyes all these things disappearing! There are lots & lots of complaints coming from all parts of the world. I have read several reports myself. Here we are not only talking about individual's creativity levels but also on global creative terms! The world has rich cultural heritage. Most of it is on the brink of extinction. I am sure our creativity is not limited to fine arts. )

I fully agree with you. Globalisation has effected the creativity.
Olden days trend setters were there now only followers are there. Writings
and art of any kind has been terribley effected by globalisation and
modernisation. Everyone wants to do the work fast and that is where modern
abstract form of art has become very popular. Some lines, some colours, some
blocks, some unhuman faces makes a abstract painting. Most of the time
nobody knows what it is. It is left to the immaginative abilities of the
viewer. Many immaginations are formed and that becomes intelligent painting!
Who can paint Monolisa kind of painting today? Is there any one to be
compared with Ravi Varma who depicted Indian culture in his paintings?
Creativity dies when popular trends are followed blindly. Even the
younger generation is fed with ready made informations in the net which is
killing their ability to search. For eg In our days if we have to write an
essay we have to go to libraries search in many books and prepare the
essay. Of cource it was a tidious and time consuming job but our knowledge
bank would be filled with variety of information. Now the reading habit
itself has dissappeared. I feel sad when I see the modern generation who are
mostly effected by this globalisation and lost their creativity.

Everywhere in the World I see the same kind of creative works! I
wondered several times why this thing is happening. Because everybody
wants to sell their works & become famous. So they follow famous
creative people & their trends. They stop thinking about new trends.
This kills innovation. Creativity suffers as a result. Don't agree?

A discussion of innovation could be lengthy. There is a lot of truth to the saying, “necessity is the mother of invention” and many factors can discourage or stifle innovation, but creativity is in our genes. Artists show it in their way and scientists in their way. No creative person will stop thinking about new trends. The practical aspects of earning a living are part of each life and mercenary motives are perhaps second behind sexual motives. When a creartive person is killed or dies naturally you might say creativity suffers. SO WHAT?
Yes, Globalisation affects creativity. They both affect everything else.
This is an interseting aspect of chaos theory.

I think this is a false perspective based on a false perception which is based on the passed world.
Creativity and innovation are not dependent on any particular historic time.
The Internet should and I believe will, generate a historic time of innovation and creativity unlike anything this world has ever seen. I worked on essays in school like you say.
Now I can sit at my computer and search the knowledge in the libraries of the world.
This would probably improve my essays

K. Usha P. Rai said:

I fully agree with you. Globalisation has effected the creativity.Olden days trend setters were there now only followers are there. Writingsand art of any kind has been terribley effected by globalisation andmodernisation. Everyone wants to do the work fast and that is where modernabstract form of art has become very popular. Some lines, some colours, someblocks, some unhuman faces makes a abstract painting. Most of the timenobody knows what it is. It is left to the immaginative abilities of theviewer. Many immaginations are formed and that becomes intelligent painting!Who can paint Monolisa kind of painting today? Is there any one to becompared with Ravi Varma who depicted Indian culture in his paintings?Creativity dies when popular trends are followed blindly. Even theyounger generation is fed with ready made informations in the net which iskilling their ability to search. For eg In our days if we have to write anessay we have to go to libraries search in many books and prepare theessay. Of cource it was a tidious and time consuming job but our knowledgebank would be filled with variety of information. Now the reading habititself has dissappeared. I feel sad when I see the modern generation who aremostly effected by this globalisation and lost their creativity.

You might not have seen much difference in your place but here we have! Most of the people who entered the Cyber world wants to follow Hollywood, Face Book, Western Music, Western Fashion etc. so much so that when BBC conducted a few music competitions some time back all the three groups that participated from this place presented only Western Music & the judges asked them where their cultural identity had gone. " We expected to hear Indian music from you. But you presented Western music to us" , they said & these people were thrown out of the competition! I felt ashamed & shocked by these comments. Same thing happens with art competitions too. Everybody wants to follow Damien Hurst or someone who is successful. I don't see much innovation. Truth is truth.
Yes, internet helps you learn a few things which you follow religiously, helps to meet all the people around the world. To show your work to a large number of people. Period.
Will Internet help in Cultural Evolution? "No" is the answer you are getting from experts!
Cultural Evolution is different from benefits you get from the Internet! Benefits - yes, Evolution - no.

Robert Cecil Hanna said:

I think this is a false perspective based on a false perception which is based on the passed world. Creativity and innovation are not dependent on any particular historic time. The Internet should and I believe will, generate a historic time of innovation and creativity unlike anything this world has ever seen. I worked on essays in school like you say. Now I can sit at my computer and search the knowledge in the libraries of the world.
This would probably improve my essays.

We see the impact more here. Most of the people who entered the Cyber world wants to follow Hollywood, Face Book, Western Music, Western Fashion etc. so much so that when BBC conducted a few music competitions some time back all the three groups that participated from this place presented only Western Music & the judges asked them where their cultural identity had gone. " We expected to hear Indian music from you. But you presented Western music to us" , they said & these people were thrown out of the competition! I felt ashamed & shocked by these comments. Same thing happens with art competitions too. What is happening to our cultural evolution?!

K. Usha P. Rai said:

I fully agree with you. Globalisation has effected the creativity. Olden days trend setters were there now only followers are there. Writings
and art of any kind has been terribley effected by globalisation and
modernisation. Everyone wants to do the work fast and that is where modern
abstract form of art has become very popular. Some lines, some colours, some
blocks, some unhuman faces makes a abstract painting. Most of the time
nobody knows what it is. It is left to the immaginative abilities of the
viewer. Many immaginations are formed and that becomes intelligent painting!
Who can paint Monolisa kind of painting today? Is there any one to be
compared with Ravi Varma who depicted Indian culture in his paintings?
Creativity dies when popular trends are followed blindly. Even the
younger generation is fed with ready made informations in the net which is
killing their ability to search. For eg In our days if we have to write an
essay we have to go to libraries search in many books and prepare the
essay. Of cource it was a tidious and time consuming job but our knowledge
bank would be filled with variety of information. Now the reading habit
itself has dissappeared. I feel sad when I see the modern generation who are
mostly effected by this globalisation and lost their creativity.

I feel that globalization is not as much the culprit as is the lack of morality and plagiarism. Current pressure to be unique and individualistic has lead to copying. That being said globalization due to the World Wide Web has contributed to the ease at which one can acquire a digital copy of an original work of art or an idea or a campaign. Laws for copy rights of our original artistic endeavors vary so drastically from country to country that at no time is our work safe once you begin to promote it on the World Wide Web. Perhaps an additional problem is how do we as original creative people display our work for sale on the World Wide Web with the security and comfort that our forefathers had when placing a framed painting in a gallery or museum?

There will always be copying of styles and what sells in this current economy is what becomes hot and thus what is hot needs to be emulated so that the artist can continue to eat, that is how it works, always has always well… but the thievery and the mindless copying that I think is the topic of discussion, is once again the true culprit and the undermining of originality.

Additionally image saturation due to corporate mass marketing has begun to chip away at our ability to see or experience something new and unique. Further more another mindless corporate approach has been the Henry Ford approach to the structure of what we see and how it is laid out. If a geographic area is accomplishing high yields than all other areas need to be clones of that area. This, of course, if you were a logical human would know that this makes no sense. This approach reminds me of an old story I herd while in college. The story goes something like this. A professor was removing the legs of a live frog one at a time and the frog was asked to jump with each amputation. Each time when the Frog was asked to jump the distance became shorter. Once the frogs’ legs were completely removed it was again asked to jump. The frog was asked several times to the point of yelling, of course the frog did not budge, none the less jump. The conclusion that was arrived to by the professor was “a frog with no legs is deaf!”

The continual degradation of our visual cornucopia is directly related to the ability to mass market, it is not that creativity has floundered, there are just as many original thinkers as days gone by, the difference is that they are now exploited by the wall marts and k marts and super stores of the world. You and I are victims of the corporate giants selling us on “be different” buy our stuff just like everybody else! A logical person would immediately understand, of course, how is it possible to be individuals, how can this be accomplished logically? Of course, it is Impossible to be an individual at this time; we are purchasing things that have shipping quantities in the billions.

For one person to be creative as you have mentioned it is of course easy, a group of five still doable, however it is not once again globalization nor instant information but greed that has muddied the pallet of creativity. The copies are the result of a struggling society to match the efforts of the original Creative mind and then finding a cheaper none qualified or not as creative person in a position of creative decision making to do what the original has done. Plagiarism is the result of People being raised to a level of incompetency, not globalization!

There were always sheep and always shepherds. Congratulations to the one who can reproduce Da Vinci or Degas. I'm going my way. When you spend too much time on the web you create less but are not obligatory influenced by it. I think it is good that all are aware about the bad imprits we leave on Mother Earth...globalization...And remedy to it. And Art is a way of opening up consciousness